一手包办 (yī shǒu bāo bàn) — to take sole charge of everything; to do everyt…

Definition

Means taking full control of everything yourself, often with a negative sense of being high-handed and leaving no room for others' input.

idiom

to take sole charge of everythingto do everything oneselfarbitraryhigh-handed

一手包办，。
Zhè ge xiàng mù tā yí gè rén yī shǒu bāo bàn, bié rén gēn běn chā bú shàng shǒu.
He handles this project all by himself; others can't even get involved.
一手包办，。
Tā yī shǒu bāo bàn le hūn lǐ de suǒ yǒu ān pái, lián xīn láng de yì jiàn dōu bú wèn.
She took sole charge of all the wedding arrangements, not even asking the groom for his opinion.
一手包办，。
Lǐng dǎo xǐ huan yī shǒu bāo bàn, xià shǔ men zhǐ néng tīng tā de.
The boss likes to do everything himself, so the subordinates can only follow his orders.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

一手one hand

偏正Modifier + head

包办take charge

包bāotake charge办bànmanage

联合Side by side

一手 and 包办 combine to mean doing everything alone.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

手 draws a five-fingered human hand: the top line is a bent middle finger, and the horizontal lines show the other four fingers.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 包 pictures a fetus in a womb, or a baby wrapped in cloth.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 辦; 办 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

力力lìstrength

Sound part声符shēngfú

辡

辡biàn辦bàn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 辦 combines 力 (strength) with 辡, which gives the sound; the simplified 办 is a later shorthand.